Monitoring of power charging in vehicle

Abstract

A energy meter unit for an electric vehicle contains energy measuring circuitry, a GPS unit, a CPU, and memory. The energy meter unit is capable of detecting the amount of energy charged at a specific location and storing that information for later uses, such as with a governmental incentive program.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An energy meter associated with charging an electric vehicle comprising;
 a location-determining system for determining a current location of the vehicle; 
 an energy meter for measuring a charge energy supplied to a battery on the vehicle, measuring energy stored by the battery and measuring energy lost during supply of charge energy; and 
 a data transmission module capable of transmitting the measure of energy and the location via a wireless communication method. 
 
     
     
       2. The energy meter of  claim 1  additionally comprising a processor associating the measure of charge energy supplied to the battery with the location at which the battery was supplied with the charge energy. 
     
     
       3. The energy meter of  claim 2  wherein said processor is capable of associating the measure of charge energy with the location based on information from a GPS receiver. 
     
     
       4. The energy meter of  claim 2  wherein said energy meter is connected to a vehicle data bus thereby allowing the processor to obtain vehicle information and associate the vehicle information with the charge energy. 
     
     
       5. The energy meter of  claim 4  wherein said data transmission module transmits the measure and location to a data collection server. 
     
     
       6. The energy meter of  claim 1  wherein the energy meter receives energy supplier information regarding a source of the charge energy supplied to the battery. 
     
     
       7. The energy meter of  claim 1  wherein the energy meter measures energy lost during the supply of charge energy based upon the measurement of charge energy supplied to the battery and based upon the measurement of energy stored by the battery. 
     
     
       8. A method for tracking electric energy charging in an electric vehicle comprising the steps of:
 a) identifying a vehicle; 
 b) determining an amount of energy supplied to a battery on the vehicle; 
 c) determining an amount of energy stored by the battery during said supply of energy to the battery; 
 d) determining an amount of energy lost during supply of energy to the battery based upon energy supplied to the battery and energy stored by the battery; and 
 e) associating the amount of energy supplied with the vehicle. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8  additionally comprising the steps of connecting to a vehicle data bus to obtain identifying information about the vehicle. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9  comprising the additional step of transmitting said amount of energy supplied and said identifying information to a data collection server. 
     
     
       11. An energy meter for an electric vehicle comprising;
 a vehicle data bus of the vehicle, the vehicle data bus presenting identifying information; 
 an energy meter for measuring a charge energy supplied to a battery on the vehicle, measuring energy stored by the battery and measuring energy lost during supply of charge energy; and 
 a data transmission module capable of transmitting the identifying information and measure of energy charging the battery. 
 
     
     
       12. The energy meter of  claim 11  further including a processor associating the identifying information and measure of energy charging the battery. 
     
     
       13. The energy meter of  claim 11  wherein the data transmission module is capable of transmitting the measure and the identifying information via a wireless communication method. 
     
     
       14. The energy meter of  claim 13  wherein said data transmission module transmits the measure and location to a data collection server. 
     
     
       15. The energy meter of  claim 11  wherein the energy meter receives energy supplier information at the power source. 
     
     
       16. The energy meter of  claim 11  wherein the data transmission module is capable of transmitting the measure and the identifying information via a removable memory method. 
     
     
       17. The energy meter of  claim 11  wherein the energy meter measures energy lost during the supply of charge energy based upon the measurement of charge energy supplied to the battery and based upon the measurement of energy stored by the battery.